Sirius Chapter 21: Chapter 20: Divergent

Read chapter 21 of Sirius by Dealer on NovelPedia.

"Li Jihan, you're next," the woman said. Jihan stepped forward and passed through the door. Inside the booth, a dark corridor led toward a light at the far end. As soon as he entered, a familiar voice greeted him. "Morning, Li. Miss me?" "Michael? What are you doing here?" He asked. "I'm personally assigned to you; aren't you happy to see a familiar face?" "Not if it's yours." "Always like this; either way, it's not as if you have a choice." He scoffed. "Anyway, I'm here to help. Let's not waste time." Li nodded and followed him. When he stepped into the lit room at the end of the corridor, he came face to face with a collection of equipment that looked entirely out of place. "These machines were built by combining technology from other worlds with Erebus's own. We could do the unlocking the old way, but this method is not only much easier; it gives us far more detail about the results," Michael explained. "So what do I do?" "Simple. First, the machinery will clear the mana vessels in your body. After that, it will expose you to a reserve containing every type of mana; whichever your body reacts to most strongly is your primary element." After a short pause, he continued. "On top of that, roughly one in every hundred thousand people also react to a second type; that's your secondary element." "So I just get into the machine?" "The way you put it makes it sound easy, but if we were doing this the old way it would probably take days, if not weeks. Either way, let's get on with it." Jihan followed, stepping into a capsule. The device resembled a hibernation chamber. The moment Li closed the door, the process began; several blue beams penetrated his body, his skin warmed, and a sharp pain pierced his mind. Argh "Ah; forgot to mention; that might hurt a bit." As if hundreds of needles were driving through him at once, Jihan bit down on his lip to keep the sound in. Then, abruptly, his mind cleared and the pain was gone. Like receiving a direct shot of pure energy, he felt incredible; invincible, almost. "Alright, Li; first phase complete." Michael's voice sounded inside the capsule. "You should be able to feel the mana flowing through the environment now; try drawing a little of it in." The instructions might have sounded vague to a layperson, but to Jihan, who already had a basic feel for mana control from his training, the channeling began quickly. Energy began to gather in his hands and, as if pulled by a magnet, the particles inside the capsule started to respond. A purple glow bloomed from within the machine. "Incredible; an Álmos user? First one in years!" Michael celebrated from outside. "Hm? The mana particle concentration is still climbing. Is that... Light?!" A blinding, colorless brightness spilled out through the capsule. "Two elements is already extraordinary, but acquiring these two together is unbelievable. He may be a rough stone right now, but with the right training he'll become a diamond." Every light went out at once. "What happened?" Michael stared, thrown. "Wait... the magical particle count is still rising!" Like a black hole swallowing every source of brightness, shadow swallowed the entire room. "Damn; this isn't good. I have to get him out!" Michael sprinted toward the capsule. The structure began to shake, and the participants waiting outside felt the tremors; as if an earthquake were detonating directly beneath the facility. "What the hell?!" One of them shouted. "What's happening in there?" Another demanded. At the center of it, Michael was fighting to contain the situation. He killed the machine's power, planted himself between the capsule and the source of the darkness, and began tracing symbols in the air with his hands, water coalescing from nothing into shapes before him. But the shadows kept feeding, devouring the room. "Cursed element! Don't think for a second that at this level you can overpower me with brute force!" Shouting through the fifth symbol, Michael dropped to one knee and drove his pa